A Welcome Boost in the Race for New Antibiotics

A $200 million government subsidy may be a life-saving bargain for many Americans.

By
Josh Bloom

May 30, 2013 7:15 pm ET

The members of the "I hate the pharmaceutical industry" club must be beside themselves. And the anti-big-government folks are probably not terribly happy either.

For the first time ever, the U.S. government is giving money to a drug company to help pay for its research. And it's not even an American company. British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline will get about $200 million over the next five years from American taxpayers to assist in its search for new antibiotics.